art, books, and apparel

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I am Karly Kulpa, artist, scientist, student, teacher. I have worked with Edmonton Public Schools for the past few years teaching art (and a variety of other subjects) to students in K through 12. I have had the distinct pleasure of being raised by an artist mother, and a family very supportive of my quirky, creative endeavours.

Art Club is my happy place. I have learned so much from my time there!

Left and Found: art, books, and apparelis a company that I started in 2011. The phrase came to me at a time when I was facing a huge transition, I’d just completed a very emotional first year teaching and had been told that I wouldn’t be able to return to my school. I was working in my first altered book journal trying to navigate the confusion, loss, and the concept of letting go to move on and this is the page I wound up creating:

from my “Words mean things” altered book

I have always been, and will forever be, inspired by what others have left behind. Garage sales entrance me, antique malls romance me, and don’t even get me started on how much I love school recycle bins. Photos, books, letters, stories, drawings, maps, music, and on and on! Miraculous little treasures, open to interpretation yet at the same time all with very distinct identities and histories. My curiosity for these artefacts soon blended with my creative practice, and as I discovered different mixed media applications I began to incorporate a variety of ephemera into both my fine artworks and my visual journal entries. Somewhere in the midst of this exploration my creative attentions wandered to hand bound books and apparel.

Currently I still dabble in all of these various creative outlets, but since 2011 I have found a kindred spirit in artist & teacher Christina Hamer. Together we have formed The Collective Scribble and the “Left and Found” name continues to represent our hand bound book pursuits. This website archives some of the first books and fine art work I have created, to see books currently available please follow this link!